How Much Paternity Leave Do Fathers Actually Get in India?

A baby is on the way, and one question comes up early: how much paternity leave will the father get?

In most private jobs, the company’s leave policy decides. India’s labour codes set no number of days. In central government, a dad with one child or none gets 15 days on full pay.

That gap in the codes surprised me. The Code on Social Security names maternity 60 times. It never names paternity, and nor do the other three codes.

Paternity Leave by Type of Employer

It depends on who you work for. The central government figures come from the Central Civil Services (CCS) (Leave) Rules, 1972, and the table shows each case.

The gap between parents is wide, as the chart below shows.

So for most fathers in India, the real answer sits in the employer’s leave policy and the job contract.

Paternity Leave in the Private Sector

The labour codes set no minimum. India’s four labour codes, in force since 21 November 2025, set out leave, wages and working conditions, and none of them mentions paternity.

The official text of each one says nothing about it: the Industrial Relations Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, the Code on Wages and the Code on Social Security.

Maternity, by contrast, has a full chapter in the Code on Social Security. The government’s own factsheet on the codes lists up to 26 weeks of maternity leave.

So in a private job, three things decide your paternity leave:

1. Your company’s leave policy.
2. Your offer letter or employment contract.
3. Any written agreement between your union and the employer.

If all three are silent, you can still use earned or casual leave for the birth, if you have a balance.

Ask HR for the leave policy in writing before the due date. If paternity leave is in it, note the number of days and the window to use them.

Once the policy names the days, someone has to make sure payroll pays them.

Who Gets Paternity Leave in Government?

A central government employee with fewer than two surviving children gets 15 days of paternity leave under rule 43-A of the CCS (Leave) Rules. The rule covers apprentices too.

Who Qualifies and When

• Fewer than two surviving children. A father with two or more can use any other leave he has.
• A fixed window. It can start up to 15 days before the delivery and must be taken within six months after it.
• Full pay. He is paid the salary he drew just before the leave.
• Not taken from his leave balance. It does not come out of his other leave, and it can be joined to any kind of leave.

If it is not used inside the window, it lapses. The rules also say it should not normally be refused.

Adoption and Surrogacy

A separate rule gives the same 15 days to a father with fewer than two surviving children who adopts a child below one year, or takes one into pre-adoption foster care. He must use the days within six months of taking the child in.

If foster care does not end in adoption, those days come out of his other leave.

Since June 2024, the intended father of a child born through surrogacy can get 15 days within six months of the birth, if he has fewer than two surviving children.

The rules call him the commissioning father, and the amendment notified by the Department of Personnel and Training added him to the paternity leave rule.

Single Fathers and State Employees

A single father in central government service, meaning unmarried, widowed or divorced, can also take child care leave, a separate leave for looking after a child, under its own conditions.

State government employees follow their own state’s leave rules. Check your state’s service rules or ask your office for the current figure.

Is Paternity Leave Paid?

In central government service, yes, in full for all 15 days, as set out above.

In a private job, it is paid only if the leave policy or contract says so. If the policy gives no paternity leave, you can use any earned or casual leave you have left, and those days stay paid.

Once those run out, the extra days are usually unpaid, and leave without pay shows how one day’s pay is worked out. Check your earned leave balance before the due date, so you know how many paid days you have.

Paternity Leave Policy for HR and Owners

Because the labour codes are silent, the policy is yours to prepare. A clear policy saves arguments when a baby arrives early.

Settle these six points before you publish it:

1. How many days. Pick a number and put it in writing.
2. Who qualifies. Decide whether new joiners need a minimum period of service first.
3. The window. Say how soon after the birth the days must be used.
4. Adoption and surrogacy. Say whether they count the same as a birth.
5. Pay. State that the days are paid in full, if they are.
6. A separate leave type. Keep it apart from earned leave, so a new father does not lose his annual leave.

The same policy has to work in every part of the business. A machine operator at a manufacturing plant, a nurse at a hospital chain, a store manager at a retail chain and a developer at an IT services firm should all read it the same way.

Add the paternity leave rule to your leave policy, next to the maternity rules, so both parents read one document.

So, How Much Paternity Leave Is Due?

In a private job, your employer’s policy decides. In central government, a father gets 15 days on full pay. He uses them within six months of the birth, and he must have fewer than two surviving children.

If a baby is on the way, read your leave policy now and plan the days with HR. If you run a business, add a paternity leave rule to your policy before anyone asks.

To track every leave type in one place, see how Attendo handles it.

Frequently Asked Questions